BEIJING (Reuters) -Starbucks said on Tuesday it has entered into a partnership with China‘s Meituan that will allow its Chinese customers to order coffee delivery via the super-app’s platform.
The move will expand the U.S. coffee chain‘s delivery footprint in China, which has since 2018 used Alibaba Group’s Ele.me as its exclusive delivery partner.
The two companies will also launch a service which will allow Meituan users to make private bookings for tasting of coffees and learning to make them at Starbucks stores, it said.
Starbucks has 5,360 stores in more than 200 Chinese cities, making it the second largest market only after the United States, according to the company‘s most recent earnings report.
The company also said it would utilise Meituan’s “super store” feature under the partnership which will see each of its stores have their own unique page on Meituan’s platforms by the end of this year, from which customers can book food delivery services or check local events.
(Reporting by Sophie Yu and Brenda Goh; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
